and use the lysol no touch hand soap for 10 times more protection with each wash. this season, a good offense is the best defense. lysol. mission for health. this morning on "early today," israeli military forces macing near the palestinian border. show of force or ground invasion ahead. a texas tragedy as a train slams into a parade float carrying veterans and their families. and former cia director david petraeus faces the fire in this benghazi terror attack. >> announcer: this is "early today" for friday, november 16th, 2012. good morning, everyone. i'm lynn berry. and the world is holding its breath this morning as tensions in the middle east reach a boiling point. this, after days of fierce fighting between israel and gaza millitanlts. an attempt at a brief cease fire was unsuccessful this morning as

palestinians unleashed a fresh round of air attacks. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu is not backing down. >> the past 24 hours israel has made it clear that it will not tolerate rocket and missile attacks on its civilians. >> well, nbc's martin fletcher is live for us in tel aviv. martin, what's the latest? >> reporter: lynn, good morning. following up on netanyahu's threat. last night 16,000 israeli reserve soldiers were called up for the army. the okay was given to 30,000. they've already called up half of that number. many of those will be moving south where the army has already matched on the border. they're moving down tanks, armored personnel carriers and trooms. by the way, among those reserve soldiers called up it also included officers and soldiers who are experienced whose specialty is dealing with enemy civilian populations. again, yet another hint, if you like, that an israeli ground

invasion is very much in the cards has not yet been ordered but still is very much on the cards. there was, as you mentioned, a cease fire briefly in gaza this morning because the egyptian prime minister and officials have been visiting gaza on the one hand as a show of support for the palestinians. it's also believed that they're maybe trying to encourage hamas to encourage a cease fire and to stop the fighting which is of course what everybody wants. already this morning there's been 85 rocket attacks by israel against palestinian targets in 45 minutes. so that was a heck of a 45 minutes targeting mostly underground rocket launching sites. israel has said they want to expand the operation of its targets not only against rocket installations and fabrication centers and stockpiles but to go closer to the civilian population with some of those rockets are being fired from. >> martin fletcher live for us in tel aviv. martin, thanks so much. elsewhere, "the new york times" reports that the defense

department has given the obama administration an assessment of what possible intervention in syria might require. as syrian forces battle opposition groups the pentagon says a u.s. military group to seize their stockpile of weapons would require upwards of 75,000 troops. the times reports that senior american officials are concerned that the militant group hezbollah has set up training camps near some of the chemical weapons depots. four people were killed in texas when a freight train slammed into a parade float carrying wounded veterans. this is just terrible. the accident happened at a railroad crossing in mid land, texas, as the float tried to get around the safety gates and lights. the float was made from a flatbed trailer with a chair for each veteran. in addition to the four deaths, 17 people were injured. mid land's mayor reacted to the accident. >> this may be one of the most tragic events we've had in our

town and it's a sad day. i shook their hands and saw them personally, met their wives. truly was an honor to be in their presence. these guys are true american heroes. >> that's for sure. secretary of defense leon panetta issued a statement saying he's deeply sadened. the ntsb is sending a team to midland to investigate. today is the day former cia director david petraeus faces lawmakers. he's going to testify behind closed doors. there is no doubt he'll also be asked about his extramarital affair. tracie potts is on capital hill for us with those details. tracie, good morning to you. >> reporter: lynn, good morning. that is not supposed to be the focus of these two hearings today before the house and senate intelligence committees, they want to know what former cia director david petraeus knows about what happened in benghazi. as you noted, it is a closed-door hearing so we will not hear his testimony on camera today or see it although senate leaders have previewed his

testimony already before he appears before those committees today. now this comes as we get word that the cia is investigating whether petraeus may have done anything wrong professionally during that affair with paula broadwell, whether he perhaps used agency resources improperly. that investigation is now ongoing as well. the fbi had concluded that this was a personal matter and that was one of the reasons it took a while to filter up to president obama. meantime, these committees on thursday saw real time video of the attack in benghazi and a couple of committees that were holding hearings without petraeus got into heated shouting matches about whether or not the u.s. intentionally misled the public into thinking it was a spontaneous and not a terror attack. u.n. ambassador susan rice, her name has been thrown out there as secretary of state. republicans are pushing back because she was the one who five days after that attack said it was spontaneous. petraeus today could shed some light on all of this.

by the way, his hearing is closed but later the intelligence committees hope to have open public hearings here on capital hill. lynn. >> tracie pots for us in washington. tracie, thank you. for a look at the weather, let's check in with nbc meteorologist bill karins has the weather. i'm surprised you would show up. >> i would challenge anyone to have an easier job today than me, even you. >> thank you. i've been slaving away all evening. you have no idea. >> i know. it's a mess in the kitchen. it's a nice, very quiet weather day just like yesterday morning. whatever you wore yesterday as far as the jacket and gloves, lynn, will work today. still warmer down in south texas. everyone else is the same, 20s and 30s. very typical for the time of year. no big storms out there to track. i know we had the rain moving up through georgia, south carolina, north carolina, now that's trying to push off the outer banks and off of areas of

virginia. much of the midwest is cloud free. the cold morning. we have a lot of sunshine. all the stormy weather over the next three days including the entire weekend is all through california through the west coast. if you're traveling out west, that's where you'll deal with some of that. light rain showers kicking off the carolina coast and a few there in southern portions of maryland. it looks like a nice friday. everywhere east of the rockies should have a good deal of sunshine. even on the eastern seaboard after a mix of sun and clouds we'll try to get you into the 50s. looking good heading into the weekend. here's a look at the weather outside your window. well, today's forecast, you can pretty much just write this down and take it all the way through saturday and sunday. most areas of the country are not going to see a change in the weather pattern all the way probably through the beginning of next week. so if you like the weather yesterday, you'll like it today and probably through the weekend. >> did someone script that for you, bill? >> they did. it took a while. hours. >> i bet so. thank you. coming up, the justice

department brings down the hammer on bp over the gulf oil spill, plus 15 days after the storm, president obama returns to survey the damage and to lend some much needed emotional support. you're watching "early today." support. you're watching "early today."

well, here are some of the stories making news this morning. bp has agreed to pay a record criminal penalty of $4.5 billion to the u.s. government in a massive settlement over the 2010 oil disaster in the gulf of mexico. attorney general eric holder says much of the money will be used to help restore the gulf. well, president obama got a firsthand look at hurricane sandy's disaster jones on new york's staten island thursday. the president consoled grieving victims and vowed to stick with them. prosecutors in new york state are dropping drug possession charges against john bon jovi's 19-year-old daughter after her apparent heroin overdose. under state law someone having an overdose cannot be prosecuted for possession. and some former first

children gave a texas audience an inside look at life in the white house. jenna bush hager revealed having her first kiss with her now husband on the executive mansion's rooftop. pretty nice. while steve ford talks about his mother betty complaining about having to cook dinner on the night gerald ford was sworn in. now let's get a check of wall street on this friday morning. the dow closed at 12,554 after losing 28 points yesterday. the s&p was down 2 the nasdaq fell 9. overseas market had a better day. nikkei shot up 194. the hang sen gained 50. today we'll be watching the fais to fais fiscal chris meeting. they project a first half recession next year. debt commission co chair erskine bowles tells cnbc maria barto romo why there hasn't been a

recession. >> the guys in public office haven't been focused on i believe what's really right for the country. >> meanwhile, the average rate of a 30 year loan has dropped to 3.34%. that's the lowest since 1971. the average 15-year fixed rate also hit a new low at 2.65%. federal officials are investigating whether fedex and ups aided and abetted illegal drug sales from online farnl sis. both companies deny any wrongdoing. mcdonald's u.s. chief is stepping down due to unusually poor fast food sales. thousands of united airlines passengers were stranded thursday thanks to a computer clich. a new survey says 86% of people are buckling up. hostess is expected to announce its next step. luke skywalker and princess leia have earned a spot in the national toy hall of fame.

and get this, we could use this on this shift. frito lay's jacking up its classic snack with a jolt of caffeine equal to a can of coke. cracker jack 'd is expected to come out. "people" magazine weighs in on its sex iette athletes, check this out. a policeman is in his car when his dash cam captures this video. nothing exciting to talk about over the weekend as far as the weather so i'm going to jump ahead to wednesday and thursday of next week. that's your holiday forecast. you're watching "early today." a" that's your holiday forecast. you're watching "early today."

some other stories making news in america this morning. a dash cam captured one wisconsin police officer's brush with death during a routine traffic stop. watch that, the officer had just returned to his car when an oncoming vehicle barrelled right into his cruiser. amazingly the officer and the 71-year-old driver in the other vehicle walked away with only minor injuries. there's also new dramatic video of hurricane sandy's flooding. surveillance cameras were running when a 13 foot storm surge poured into the subway station. they're still closed. you can see why. in virginia tragedy was averted when this 4-year-old

little girl leapt into action to save her mom's life by calling 911. my mommy is having a seizure so i thought i could call you guys and i am 4 and i call people and i really need you to help me. >> okay. your mommy's having a what? >> seizure. >> up believable. little jayla driver's mom had a history of seizures and her parents taught her how to help at an early age. she did a great job at it. dreams of walking again finally came true for one ohio mom. the amazing fete came true when carolina hatten put on a wearable robot costing around $140,000. she became paralyzed from the waist down from a 2009 accident. it helps people balance and shift their weight. her next wish is to hold her 4-year-old son and be a normal mom. thursday night football. bills dolphins. buffalo opened the scoring with a 79-yard punt return for a

touchdown and the bills defense held the dolphins to under 200 yards total defense for a 19-14 win. looking good there. the nba, the still undefeated new york knicks made a dramatic fourth quarter comeback for a 104-100 win. miguel cabrera was named league mvp. buster posey was voted the national league's most valuable player. what do you think of this, four athletes including the patriots tom brady made "people" magazine's list of sexy men. mayor i don't remember chalmers plus olympic speed skater a polo ono and oscar pistorius. and just an amazing soccer goal here. look at this as a swedish player made a stunning overhead bicycle kick, whoa, from 30 yards away in a mass against england to open its new national stadium.

he celebrated by ripping his shirt off. did you get to see that? no? what? just ahead, thousands more people across the country are awake now. we'll tell you why. and is another breakup on the horizon for the kardashians? plus, why is vice president biden moonlighting with amy poehler? you're watching "early today."

well, the weekend forecast looks pretty quiet around the nation. let me advance to next week

because a lot of people are already asking me about their travel plans on wednesday before thanksgiving. it looks very nice. we remain in this quiet weather pattern across the country all the way through thanksgiving day actually. we will see a little return moisture out of the gulf. we could see some isolated storms. the northwest is by far going to see the worst weather as we even go through thanksgiving day. this is probably very hit-and-miss showers coming up through the middle of the country. the eastern seaboard looks fine. it will be a little bit breezy. that's one maybe minor thing to watch for the macy's thanksgiving day parade in new york. the thanksgiving travel period gets an acts. >> that's some good news. bill, thanks so much. well, it is an end of the era at the box office. twi-hard fans will be lining up to see breaking down 2. bill karins is heart broken. he's sulking. >> so happy this is over. >> the film is expected to rake

in $150 million this weekend. speaking of "twilight," the on and off relationship of kristen stewart and robert pattinson has been taking his toll on will ferrell. how heart felt. for will's sake we hope there's closure soon. and the cast and crew of the big bang theory decided to surprise their producers with a "call me maybe" flash mob. the chore rio graphed number was done in front of a live number. >> and chris and bruce jenner will be getting a divorce was quickly shot down by the kardashian matriarch saying it was total rubbish. british now apparently. nbc's parks and rec featured vice president joe biden who after going over a scene had this to say. >> now i just want you to know, i'm going to make two major speeches, meet a couple of thousand people but it will be a hell of a lot easier than this. >> little behind the scenes look

there. and finally the onion. you know the onion? >> yeah. >> well, it's revealed their choice for 2012 sexiest man alive. it is none other than north korean supreme leader kim jong-un. >> we'll be nice, it's friday. >> we want to be nice to kim jong-un, really? and this comes to us from stanford, connecticut, where a couple of extreme athletes attempted to make their mark on the eighth annual guinness world record day. michael mena went eight feet in the air to record the highest forward lift on a pogo stick. they also used a pogo stick to hop 265 times for the most pogo jumps in one minute. i'm lynn berry, and this is "early today," just your first stop of the day, today on your nbc station.

test. test. in france you better get your sweet tooth ready. a chock la tear, always ready, has created a massive chocolate tree displaying his parisian boutique complete with, what else, a monkey. that makes sense, right? why not? it stands three stories tall and weighs in around five tons. the artist says the scene promotes biodiversity and he hopes it will raise awareness on other animals. >> what are they doing with the chocolate after. >> chocolate chip pancakes. lace up and set out. set a few more records. across the globe more than 400,000 people took place in the guinness book world of records. they squeezed their way into a

mini cooper. over in australia a 15-year-old boy took the win for the longest note held on a didierido. >> don't worry, no one knows how it sounds. >> thank you. just in time for the breaking down premiere, madame tussauds' revealed the wax figure. members of team jacob kissed, clawed, grabbed the wax figure saying it's almost as good as the real thing. we need to send these people to some therapy. the girls were more curious, however, to see his trademark abs under the suit. >> the thirteenth shirt was being lifted. >> that's a little creepy. >> the six-pack? >> that's what you're on? >> i had to say something. i have to participate, don't i? >> it's time for now for an early look at some of the stories we'll follow throughout the day on nbc. president obama is set to meet with congressional leaders of both parties at the white house

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